12 Days of EduMagic

0:02 Hello Edu Magicians, welcome to the Edu Magic podcast with your host, Doctor Sam Fesich. Doctor Sam is a professor of education, author of Edu Magic, and a Pumpkin Spice Latte fan. This podcast is designed for pre service teachers. Remember friends, teaching doesn't begin at graduation, but during that first class at 8:00 AM. Let's get this party started. This podcast is a proud member of the Teachbetter Podcast Network, Better Today, Better Tomorrow and the podcast to get you there. Explore more podcasts at www.teachbetterpodcastnetwork.com.

0:44 Now let's get on to the episode. Hello Edgy Magicians and welcome back to another episode of the Edgy Magic Podcast. My name is Doctor Sam Fessage and I know the holidays are over, but I would love to celebrate the 12 days of veggie magic with you. So let's TuneIn and check it out. So my first gift to you on this 12 days of Edgy Magic. And if you've been following me over on Instagram, you have seen them already posted, but I'd love to cover them more in depth during today's episode. So on day one, I gave you the Find your teaching superpower quiz, reflect on your strengths as an educator and resources to help support you. You can find it over on S festish.com. Just click on what's your teaching superpower and you can find out more about your specific teaching superpower. For example, are you an empathetic teacher? Are you a caring and supportive teacher? So those are just two of the types of super teachers that we have, but there's four.

1:44 So go ahead and find out which one you are. On the second day of Edgy Magic, I'm giving you 2 pieces of inspiration. You can find both on S festish.com. One is the podcast you're listening to now, Edgy Magic. You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts and the other is the blog at sfestish.com/blog. So you can find out resources, materials just for future teachers like you to help support you during your college career. Field experiences, observation, and student teaching help you go into the classroom with confidence that you are an educator of excellence. On the third day of Instagram I gave you 3 resources to help you build.

2:33 On the third day of Edgy magic I gave you 3 resources to help you build your Instagram profile as a future teacher and some ideas to help support you and to post about S 1st tip would be to add in a profile picture of just you in the bio section. Add in aspiring educator, future teacher, pre service teacher, and if you wanted to put in information like early education major, he could do that as well. And then the next tip would be to add in and post content that you're excited about, things that you're learning about, strategies and methods, tech tools and techniques that you're learning about in your coursework. And you can find out more on aspessage.com slash Instagram. For future teachers voting connections. There's a great blog post that I'll put down in the show notes that you can find out more about how to build your Instagram profile as a future educator.

3:36 On the 4th day of Edgy Magic, I brought you 4 interview tips and these can be used during the end of student teaching or if you're looking for a summer internship. So make sure you research the district or the place in which you want to internship. Look beyond their mission and their vision statement and identify ways in which you align to those values. Make sure you have your clothes set and ready to go for your interview the night before. Because you don't want to have to think about what am I going to wear? What if that doesn't fit? What that doesn't go with those pants or that skirt? You want to have it all figured out the night before, making sure things are ironed and clean and ready to go. Because the first thing is you wake up, you think, OK, I'm going to wear my this one pair of pants and they're not clean. Now I have to find a different pair. That's the worst.

4:31 The third tip for interview tips would be bring something to share during the interview. And I don't mean cookies or coffee. I mean perhaps a resume brochure. And you can head on over to my Edgy Magic store and Teacherspayteachers to find a editable brochure that you can turn your resume into, that you can give the interviewers. And it highlights your skills, your strengths, and your talents as an educator. Next, you're going to want to make sure you have questions when they come to you and they say, what questions do you have? You don't want to say none, I'm all good, see ya. You want to have at least one or two quality questions prepared ahead of time for that interview.

5:14 Now, you want these questions to be things that can't be Google able and things that aren't easily searched. For example, one question could be how long have you worked here and what brings you back every day? Something like that. But make it personalized to wherever you're applying. And you can find more of these tips in addition to these4@sfesters.com/interviewtips. On the 5th day of Edgy Magic, I am giving you 5 reasons why you need the book Edgy Magic, the Guide for Pre Service Teachers in your life. First, it's a road map to help you as a future educator. It quotes different pre service teachers who have been in your shoes, so you're not alone.

6:01 It's filled with practical strategies, reflection prompts, and tools to help you support to support you throughout your college career and beyond. It helps you build a professional brand as a future teacher. Because remember, if you are being googled by a district and spoiler, you will be googled by a district. You want that positive professional presence to show up. And as you magic a guide for pre service teacher talks you through exactly how to build your positive professional digital presence, you're also going to learn about how to build a teaching portfolio and get ready for the interview using your teaching portfolio that you build. So this is sometimes called a teaching website and in the book and walk you through how to build 1 to help you as a tool for reflection, a tool to keep all your resources and materials together, a way to reflect on your teaching and your skills as an educator.

6:58 There's a wonderful resource that you can use during an interview and as a way to collect content throughout your college career. And lastly, there are so many resources in Edgy Magic, a guide for pre service teachers that are classroom ready so you can hit that classroom running and ready to go as a student teacher or as a field student. There's resources and ideas that other pre service teachers have done that you can use and adapt for your own. On the 6th day of Edgy Magic, I give you 6 interview tips. So the first one is using AQR code to share a story. So using AQR code on your resume or on your resume brochure is really powerful. You can have a link to audio or video that really brings that example to life.

7:49 You can create an introduction video to put onto your website or on that QR code using Animoto or Canva and this can show pictures and audio and video of you living out your teacher life, your best teacher life. You can think about the interview process. It might not be the same across every district that you apply for. So knowing that ahead of time and not to expect like the second round interview at every district that you apply for to be a teaching demo. Sometimes it's more content driven questions, sometimes it's a teaching demo. Some districts have 3 rounds interviews, some have two, some have 4. Some are with students, some are with not so understanding. The teaching interview process is different throughout districts which are also really important. You also wanna make sure that you treat everyone well and send a thank you note as soon as you get back in your car that day. So make sure you send a thank you note. Introduce yourself to everyone, give them a handshake and a smile, make eye contact, use their first names or however they introduce themselves you During your interview, be respectful and kind to everyone from the administrative assistant to the principal to other educators in the room of that interview.

9:05 You wanna show your best self, So be kind, respectful throughout that interview process to everybody. And there's a wonderful resource that goes along with the 6th day of edgy magic, which is asfesters.com. How to stand out from the stack of resumes. You'll find these and more resources to help you during the interview process. On the 7th day of Edgy Magic, I gave you 7 tech tools to help you in your future classroom. These can be tools that can help resources be more interactive and engaging for students. They can help with data collection, and of course, it's going to help you with your technology skills. So some tools I recommend trying would be nearpod the Hoot, Lucid Camba for Education.

9:51 And did you know that your.edu account for your school or your university is like a gold mine, a treasure trove that can unlock lots of free stuff with whenever you sign up. So use it for Canva for education. Sign up for your.edu and you'll get access to the teacher resources on Canva. Other resources include book creator, Ed puzzle, classroom screen and immersive reader. And I will link to all those additional blog posts over in our show notes so you can check them out. I definitely recommend Costume Screen. It seems like they are always adding in fantastic updates. Some of my favorite ones with Classroom Screen are the timer, the group creator, and of course the background with the squirrel on it. He's a great teaching assistant.

10:40 So if you've used Classroom Screen, you know what I'm talking about. On the 8th day of edgy magic, I gave you 8 LinkedIn profile tips to have a lovely LinkedIn profile. First is a professional photo. You know, choose a clear picture of just you in the LinkedIn website. Have a headline that really pops. So instead of saying student, you can have something aspiring elementary teacher password attack those types of things in the about section. Share your teaching philosophy. Make it professional, personal just for you. So why did you choose to become an educator? And if you're looking for a great resource to help you create your teaching philosophy, if you head on over to my Teachers by Teachers store, you will find a Write Your teaching Philosophy template that'll help support you to create something beautiful and meaningful.

11:32 In your LinkedIn profile. You also want to make sure you show off your experience, including tutoring or volunteer work, ways that you have helped support teaching and learning. You can also include leadership roles as well in your LinkedIn profile if you have leadership roles that you have done throughout your college career. You also want to make sure you highlight your degrees. Certifications. If you are certified in any educational technology tools, for example, like Microsoft or Google, make sure you pop that in there. Skills and endorsement. You can put things like educational technology, classroom management. Those fit really well in skills and endorsements. Any clearances could go over there too. You also want to make sure you engage on LinkedIn. So not just post and ghost.

12:20 You want to share posts, but things that you're learning about. And you can also put your LinkedIn profile on your resume as a link and or a QR code. And in your LinkedIn resume, you can link back to your digital portfolio. So you want to make sure everything talks to each other. The last thing I recommend for LinkedIn to really make it pop is to customize your URL. On the right side of LinkedIn, whenever you're logged in to editing, you can customize your URL. So my recommendation is to make it clean and professional. For example, linkedin.com/yourname first and last name, and that works really well for LinkedIn.

13:01 So you can also share that really easily on social media and on your resume. All right, on the 9th day of edgy magic, I have ways to balance school work and having a life outside of school. Right, 'cause we know it can be really difficult as a college student, as a student teacher, how do you balance it all? A lot of posts that I wrote that time management and having balance is like a Unicorn. It doesn't exist. Some days you're going to have days in which you're more busy with school work and then there are days you can invest more in yourself and in your family and friends. You want to have a little bit of everything in your day. So some strategies, I share 9 different strategies. Some of them include time blocking, so looking at your calendar and blocking out time for studying, for classes, for time with friends, for working out, those types of things, making sure you're looking at your tasks and can you categorize them into things that I have to do, things that I should probably do and things that I could work on? So for example, must do would be turning in an assignment before the due date, right?

14:05 Should do. You could probably start studying for that quiz that's coming up in a week, right? Starting just to review your notes and getting things organized, you could do, you could organize your desk so you are ready to go and have a great study session, a weekly preview. So looking at your week ahead on maybe a Sunday or a Saturday and blocking out time. What are sometimes that you have scheduled? What are some open times, what something you'd like to do that week. So really looking ahead and previewing your week ahead could be helpful in organizing your time and managing that focusing in whenever it's time to study. I really like the Pomodoro method where you have 25 minutes of, you know, you focus in and you have a 5 minute break. And if you're having a hard time getting started, just telling yourself, OK, just going to study for 5 minutes. And usually it'll last more than that. For example, when I go to the gym, like hey, just going to lift for 5 minutes, I end up staying there for like 2530, I mean, which is great.

15:01 So just getting started sometimes can be helpful, can be helpful if you just think just going to do a 5 minutes. So set that timer for 25 and then take a little 5 minute break. Looking at your schedule and using a way to break down your big tasks. Having like a template or a Word doc or a OneNote notebook open or even a page on a notebook that's the same that you can use throughout each week. So you put in your top three priorities, what are the things you must get done or things you should get done and could get done and then prioritize surprise that, but having a template that you can work on so you're not recreating from scratch every week.

15:41 Having a non negotiable list. What are the things that are not coming off your calendar? For example, going to class right, But also maybe you have on there. Another non negotiable is moving 30 minutes during the day for three days a week. Or maybe a non negotiable is I shut down my computer at 5:00 and I don't open it up again till 8:00 PM. Or maybe another non negotiable is lunch with friends three or four days a week, scheduling time for family and friends and for yourself. So actually make appointments on your calendar for yourself so you don't break that time. So you invest in yourself and you do things that you enjoy and hobbies and hang out with friends and call your family and talk to your friends.

16:30 Oftentimes teaching can be a 24/7 job if we let it. So make sure you schedule in time for those who are important to you. Next would be to prioritize sleep. I know that sounds really simple, but you need to be able to get quality sleep so you can have a great day, you know, the day, the next day. So aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Her body will thank you. And then a last tip for the 9th day of edgy magic, which was balance the busy with the with teaching would be, you know, stay active. You know, body in motion tends to stay in motion.

17:11 So continue to move to move throughout your day and schedule it in with things you enjoy. Or maybe try a new class at the gym or try a new workout routine or try a new walk to class, a new route. You can add in movement in lots of different ways. On the 10th day of Edgy Magic, we gave you several ways to slay a field observation. So first way, be early and ready to learn, but don't be like 1/2 hour early, like 15 minutes is just fine. You want to give yourself enough time to park and get acclimated to the building. Introduce yourself to administrative assistant, let them know why you're here and arrive in the classroom. Have writing utensil and notebook ready to go. You want to make sure you take notes in a notebook or with pencil and pen.

17:58 You don't want to have your laptop out 'cause that could be distracting. And you also want to leave your phone in your bag or in your car. Do not check it. And if you're having a hard time like not checking your phone, try little bits at a time, not checking it and setting timers on your apps so you're not spending three hours scrolling TikTok. So start to practice that your future self will thank you and you will feel less anxious when you're not around your phone. Make sure you know what you're observing and what you're to be looking for because you don't want to go into an observation and then look at like, oh, I should have looked at this or I didn't notice, didn't go into the right classroom or the right type of classroom. So you want to make sure that you're clear on what you need to observe during that field work.

18:46 And you can look at your professor's rubric or syllabus to identify what you know, specific needs There are you want to look at classroom management techniques. What are the verbal cues, nonverbal cues that the teacher's using? What are some call and responses? What are the procedures and policies you want to look at? What technology is used and why it's being used? Not just as one more thing, but what's the purpose behind using the technology? If you're able to engage with students, walk around, read them at the doors, ask the teacher how you can get involved in small ways. Can you observe other classes and specialists? Are you able to observe a lower grade and upper grade? Are you able to observe physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech, or a computer class or a music class? You never know where you might get your next great teaching idea.

19:36 You want to also make sure that you send a professional, I think you know, to the teacher and to the others that and to others that you observed, thanking them for their time and allowing you in their classroom. If you had interactions with the principal, please make sure you send them a thank you note as well. And always be professional. You're representing your school and yourself. And you never know where that observation could lead. It could lead to field work. It could lead to student teaching. It could lead to an interview. You never know. And there are more resources about this type of content for field observation at. Ss.com/sophomore year, the year to get serious.

20:16 On day 11 of Edgy Magic, I gave you 11 prompts to think about to guide an observation. So kind of focusing a little bit more on those policies and procedures because it can be really daunting to go into a classroom and sit there with a blank sheet of paper and like, ah, and I know what I'm serving. There's so much I'm looking at, I don't even know what to do. So here are 11 prompts are going to help you out. And of course, there are resources to help you with observation in on the blog as well. There's a great blog post that I have called Observation with Trust and Support featuring Craig Randall. You can go ahead and check out that resource for even more content regarding observations. All right, so some prompts to think about when you're observing.

21:01 What's the entrance protocol? How do students enter the room? What are the expectations? How are students desks arranged? Are they moved around at all throughout the day? Does it depend on the content that they're learning or the type of strategy the teacher's using for desk placement? Where and how do students get materials and resources? Are they able to just get up and get them? Do they have to ask, you know, what types of resources are available to them? What's the attendance policy and where is it reported? What's the late policy for any assignments? How are grades recorded and reported back to students and families? Which curriculum is used for each subject and what's the pacing when, scope and sequence of that curriculum?

21:43 Where's the emergency information for students kept and how is it accessed? Who has access to it? What's the schedule for the day or the week or the month? Do they do day schedules? Did they do ABC schedules? How is it organized? Is there a social emotional learning component to the curriculum or to the classroom space? How do students exit the classroom? When do they engage with each other? Is it more teacher or student driven curriculum? So just a few things to be looking for during your observation. And then on the last day of Edgy Magic, I gave you a fantastic resource and it's actually on sale through tomorrow, January 2nd, and it's called the Edgy Magic Student Teacher Planner.

22:28 This is the ultimate guide for student teachers to get organized and ready to go for student teaching and spring 2026. You can find it over my Teachers Day Teachers store, but let me talk you through it a little bit. So this resource, you can use it digitally, you can print it out or you can use it in OneNote or Canva, whatever you would like digitally, and you can print it out and you can write all over it. I prefer the printed method, but it is a lot of paper to print. It's over 300 pages of content. So it has monthly calendars, weekly calendars, daily schedules, Lesson plan templates, student grouping guides, a page full of resources to help you get started with QR codes, and specific blog posts and podcast episodes for different topics.

23:19 It has 15 weeks of reflection prompts for student teaching, something for you to focus on each week. That also is a place for you to document your teaching observation hours and big questions throughout the week that you may have. There's also resources to document student preferences, student birthday, student interest. It's just a treasure trove of resources to help you get ready for student teaching. This is something that I wish I had as a student teacher. It's something that I recommend all student teachers grab because you're going to need it and it really helps to solidify.

24:00 What do I put in my student teacher planner? What do I put in my binder? How do I organize my through ring binder? This is going to help support you. It has places for you to put your observation notes, your supervisor evaluations, your mentor teacher evaluations. It has a place for everything. You will not get disorganized with this tool. So again, you can head on over to him, My Teacherspayteachers store. It's here in the show notes. Go ahead and grab it and you can get it on sale today, January 1st through January 2nd, 20% off. So go ahead and grab it. It is a fantastic resource to our future self. Well, thank you. Especially in January when you're heading in to your first student. You can also use this resource as a field placement resource as well.

24:50 If that's something you're in in your college career and you're in field placement, this is another fantastic resource for you to grab too. All right, friends, we walk through the 12 days of Veggie magic. We talked through interview tips, We talked through technology tools, and we came away with so many tips and strategies. And these are all from resources from the Edgy Magic podcast and blog. I hope you have a fantastic 2026 and let's keep celebrating your wins, big and small. Remember, you have the Edgy Magic within you. Bye for now.

25:38 And there you have it, Edu Magicians. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with your friends. For more Edu Magic, check out S fessage.com and follow Doctor Sam on Twitter and Instagram at S fessage. Until next time you have the Edu Magic within you.